CBC 16 - Ching's Chilli Chicken Noodles

This is another recipe that I used to make all the time and I can't quite remember why I stopped making it all the time.  This dish is fabby any time of year, in summer when everything is crisp and fresh or in winter when the chilli really kicks in and warms from the inside out.  We affectionately call this 'Ching's Chilli Chicken Noodles' as the recipe comes from Ching-He Huang's book Chinese Food Made Easy which accompanied the BBC TV series.  There are loads of fantastic recipes in the book but I shame-facedly admit that since trying this recipe I haven't ventured on to any of the others.  I really must rectify that!

Ching's Chilli Chicken Noodles
180g rice noodles
250g skinless chicken breast fillets, sliced
1 courgette, sliced into strips
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 large spring onions, sliced lengthways
For the Sauce
4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled, sliced and finely chopped
1 medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips
2 tomatoes, sliced
5 tbsp water
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp soft light brown sugar

Place all the ingredients for the sauce into a blender and blitz.

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.  Drain, then run them under cold running water and drain again.  Drizzle with a little groundnut oil and put to one side.

Heat a wok over a high heat and add 1 tbsp groundnut oil (I use fry lite!).  Add the chicken and stir fry for 2-3 mins until it starts to turn brown.  Add the courgette and red pepper and stir fry together for 1 min.  Add the sauce and bring to the boil.

Add the cooked noodles and stir well to combine.  Season with the soy sauce, garnish with the spring onions and serve immediately.

Serves 2
Ching-He Huang's Chinese Food Made Easy

One shortcut I take is to boil the kettle and pour the boiling water into a bowl that has the noodles ready and waiting with a couple of crumbled chicken stock cubes.  Not classy, but tasty!  By the time the chicken and veg have stir fried the noodles are soft enough to drain and add to the wok along with the sauce where they finish cooking but soak up some of that spicy flavour.  To bulk the meal out I often add extra red pepper and / or courgette if I have it.

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

This blog little blog of mine started life due to my baking adventures, a place to inspire me, encourage me and show me how much I have developed. It also started life as a single place for me to keep all my recipes to hand, no more scraps of paper or magazine clippings or the copious amount of notebooks that are scattered throughout our home and drive my Husband bonkers. I enjoy the baking part more than I enjoy the 'gown-up' or 'have to eat to survive' type of cooking. I like my food, no secret there, so I try new recipes for dinner time each week but if I could survive on cake and ice cream and brownies alone then I would eat them morning, noon and night ... and I'd be a size 8 model with it!

To cut to the chase, I've been hording my 'dinner time' recipes (those would be the boring grown up, eating to survive type recipes I mentioned before!) in favour of posting the fun stuff and now I have a backlog! I guess I'm asking for your perseverance over the next few posts ;0)

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

1 egg white

1 tsp sesame oil

1.2 litres (2 pints) chicken stock

275g canned or frozen sweetcorn

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp fresh root ginger, grated

1 tsp cornflour, mixed with 2 tsp water

225g cooked chicken, shredded

4 spring onions, chopped - optional

Freshly ground black pepper

Beat the egg white and sesame oil together and leave to one side.

Add the stock, soy sauce and ginger in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the sweetcorn and simmer for 5 mins. Add the cornflour paste.

Lower to a simmer and add the chicken.

Slowly pour the egg white and sesame oil mixture, stirring constantly.

Sprinkle the spring onions over the top if using.

Serves 4

Adapted from WW Deeply Delicious

Hubby and I enjoy this soup quite often. Its one of our favourites as it doesn't take long to whip up and the ingredients are generally always to hand.

Dead Good Chicken Noodle Soup

Wow - so long since my last post!!! There has been lots going on which I would love to blame my absence on but in reality I've had my nose stuck in books all week. I resisted 'The Twilight Saga' for as long as I possibly good but last night after I finished New Moon I promised to tear myself away from Bella, Jake and Edward for long enough to write up a post and catch up on the unread posts sitting in my reader.

As you can imagine the book reading has 'slightly' restricted my time in the kitchen! That being the case one still has to put a meal on the table each night and this Chicken Noodle Soup is one of our all time favourites, it also has the added bonus of being quite healthy too ;0)

Chicken Noddle Soup

Heat 1.75 litres (3 pints) chicken stock in a pan with 1 large clove garlic, peeled and crushed, 1 1/2 tsp ginger, grated and 2 tbsp soy sauce. When simmering, add 3 chicken breasts, halved lengthwise and cook for 10 mins, adding 100g sugar snaps, halved, for the final minute. Remove the chicken and vegetables and set aside. Soak a pack of thin rice noddles in the stock for 5 mins. Transfer to bowls using tongs. Slice the chicken and add to the bowls with the sugar snaps, 8 spring onions, sliced and 25g fresh coriander, torn, and some sliced red chilli. Pour over the stock, season and serve with lime wedges.

Serves 4

I think I got this from a Sainsbury's Magazine many moons ago

This is the best Chicken Noodle Soup ever - in my opinion! And its quicker to make than waiting for the delivery from the Chinese Take Away. The original recipe suggests adding 125g beansprouts too but for some reason I always leave them out.

Cook Book Challenge Number One

One of my New Year resolutions (there are a few!) was to start making use of all those cook books I have managed to collect over the last few years. The lion's share of them sit in my book shelf and, apart from a casual flick through the pages every now and then, really don't get to see the light of day. Thus the 2010 Cook Book Challenge (CBC) was born and last night's dinner saw Kylie Kwong's 'Simple Chinese Cooking' make it all the way from the bookshelf to the kitchen bench.

Kylie is a fourth generation Australian-Chinese currently living in Sydney. She has her own restaurant there and also has several cookbooks and TV series under her belt too, you may have seen her on the Good Food Channel when it was still called UKTV Food. Her cookbook is very easy to read and the pictures are mouthwatering, the only thing I would complain about is the amount of oil that she uses. Next time I make these dishes, for there will certainly be a next time, I think I'll substitute the fry lite spray for the oil. Delish!

Stir Fried Chicken Fillets with Honey and Ginger

800g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm slices (I used breast cause that's what we had handy!)

2 tbsp veg oil

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Marinade

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp shao hsing wine or dry sherry

2 tbsp finely diced ginger (I grated it)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tsp five spice powder (I didn't have any handy so I substitute a pinch of crushed dried chillies)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Combine chicken with marinade ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add half the marinated chicken with the marinade and stir fry for 1 min. Remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add remaining chicken and stir fry for 1 min. Return reserved chicken to the wok with soy sauce and stir fry for a further 2 mins or until chicken is just cooked through and slightly caramelised.

Arrange chicken on a platter and serve.

Serve as a meal for 4 with steamed rice or as part of a banquet for 4-6

This was very, very yummy. Hubby had a second helping which is always a good sign!

Steamed Rice

1 1/3 cups uncooked jasmine rice

2 2/3 cups water

Place uncooked rice in a sieve and rinse under running water until water runs clear. Combine water and rice in a medium sized heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil, immediately cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce heat to as low as possible. Cook, covered, for 10 mins. Do not remove lid during cooking.

Remove saucepan from the stove and stand, covered, for 10 mins. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

Serves 4 (makes about 4 cups of cooked rice)

This is the easiest way I have ever found of making perfectly cooked fluffy rice without a rice cooker. I will be using this method from now on.

Stir Fried Snow Peas with Garlic

2 tbsp veg oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

250g mange-tout (snow peas), trimmed (I used sugar snap peas as that is what we had)

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 tsp white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp sesame oil

Heat veg oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add salt and mange-tout and stir fry for 2 mins. Immediately add crushed garlic and stir fry for 1 min, stirring constantly to ensure garlic does not burn. Add sugar and stir fry for 10 seconds. Pour in water and simmer for 2 mins or until the mange-tout are tender. Lastly, add sesame oil and serve immediately.

Serves 2 as a side dish (or 4 for a banquet)

Who would have thought a bit of sugar and water along with some garlic and a stir fry could make these even tastier than they normally are. I could have eaten the whole lot on my own, only they were a touch too oily when cooked following the instructions above. Next time I'll replace the veg oil with a few sprays of the fry lite.

I loved this meal, Hubby not so much but then he isn't a fan of rice. He has asked that he has noddles with it next time instead. I will of course be happy to oblige ;0)